fulbright Taiwan online journal

fulbright Taiwan online journal

Tag: Interview

Human-Bird Sculpture in Taiwan: Cross-Cultural & Environmental Potential

Professor Sarah Haviland came to Taiwan in 2018 to look for human-bird images that cross culture and time. In her teaching at the Taipei National University of the Arts, she aimed to foster creative thinking in students and led them through a process that she goes through when designing sculptures. As for her research progress, she found rich connections between humans and birds in the society, which she explored through sketches and studies. Sarah hopes, by sharing these practices, that people will consider their own relationship with the environment and nature.

Sarah Haviland’s abstract-figurative sculptures and installations have been exhibited in NYC, nationally, and internationally in museums, nonprofit galleries, and private collections. Haviland earned an MFA from Hunter College and a BA from Yale University. She lectures independently and teaches at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York.

Find more at: www.becomingabird.com and www.sarahhaviland.com

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Dominique Murdock: English Teacher Training and Research through Culturally Responsive Teaching

Dominique Murdock is currently serving her second term as a Fulbright Taiwan grantee. She originally journeyed to Taiwan in 2016 as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Kinmen, and was later awarded a second and third grant from the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan) as a TEFL Trainer and Advisor. Being an African American female in Asia, she sometimes struggled to earn credibility as an educator. Therefore, she worked hard to include more cultural diversity in the classroom and training sessions. Dominique Murdock hails from Detroit, MI. Her home institution is The University Of Southern California, where she received her MAT: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  

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Chris Upton: Rights and Rule-Crafting Processes in Taiwan’s Special Indigenous Courts

J. Christopher Upton’s research focuses on Taiwan’s newly created special indigenous courts. Chris conducted an in-depth ethnographic project concentrating on one of these courts, studying how the court crafted rules about indigenous customary practices and how indigenous litigants used the legal system to advance their own understandings of indigenous culture.  Chris Upton is a lawyer and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. During his Fulbright research, Chris was hosted by Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan and the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung, Taiwan.

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Lillygol Sedaghat: The Glitter of Garbage: Taiwan’s Innovation in Waste Management

Lillygol Sedaghat documented Taiwan’s waste management system and innovations in plastics and electronics recycling through film and digital media. She hopes to inspire conscious consumerism – the realization that every choice we make affects the environment – and spark a global discussion on trash with the #MyWasteMyWay. Using music videos, info-graphics, and maps to promote environmental education, she aims to transform people’s perceptions of trash from something disposable to something valuable.  Although she began her research with limited vocabulary, she believed in the importance of using Chinese as the language of choice for her field work and worked hard to improve her Mandarin. While she is still working on finding her voice, she acknowledges that the journey is long, but definitely worth it. Lillygol Sedaghat is a multi-media environmental journalist and speaker focusing on the intersection among science, systems, and people. She is a 2017-18 Fulbright–National Geographic Digital Storyteller. She is an active contributor to National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic?” global campaign. Lillygol has spoken at UN World Environment Day, Influence Nation Summit DC, and National Geographic on her research. She completed a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and was named 5 Under 25: Leaders

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Erich Hester: Effect of Floodplain Inundation on River Pollution in Taiwan

During his Fulbright year Dr. Erich Hester cooperated with his host, Angela Lin and discovered opening up the floodplain can be effective to help break down medical chemicals in the river. Integrating floodplain management into the existing infrastructures can potentially improve the efficiency of the water treatment system. Dr. Hester also encourages scholars and students in the environmental engineering field to explore exchange opportunities. Dr. Erich Hester, associate professor at Virginia Tech, specializes in environmental and water resources engineering. He and his group, “Hester Environmental Hydraulics Research Group”, focuses on how hydrology, hydraulics, and geomorphology interact to influence ecological health and water quality in stream, river, wetland, and groundwater systems.

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Michelle Phillips: Repairing (and Exploiting) the Underclass Image

Michelle Phillips spent her Fulbright year in Taiwan to research on the maid trade system and compares it with the one in Hong Kong. Because of her multilingual background, she can act as a bridge between employers and domestic workers. After trust was built with the domestic workers, she successfully interviewed over 150 people in total. Later, she will bring the experiences and observations from her research to propose changes in Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines regarding better protections for migrant workers and their employers. Michelle Phillips is a 4th-year Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at UC Berkeley. Her current research is focused on the intersection of business, politics and human rights, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. She is focusing on questions ranging from the role of the state in international trade and migration, the effectiveness of certain policies as well as their unintended consequences, and the impact of business interests on the implementation and consistency of government intervention. In an increasingly interconnected global economy, she believes it is crucial to understand what motivates the people behind these institutions, as well as the de facto impact of strategies they implement.  

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Andrew Paulsen: Implementing Eastern Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching Math in Urban High Schools

Paulsen received Fulbright ‘Distinguished Awards in Teaching’ Scholar to research eastern mathematics pedagogy. Conducting most of his research on hundreds of classroom observations throughout Taiwan. Including Taiwanese teaching techniques, education policy, and culture, and offered recommendations on how to implement these ideas in urban schools throughout the United States. Andrew Paulsen is currently the Lead Math Teacher and an Instruction Coach at East Side High School, the largest comprehensive high school in Newark, New Jersey. Originally from Levittown, New York, Andrew received his B.A. from Marist College, his Master is in educational leadership, management, & policy from Seton Hall University, and his Ed.M. in public school leadership from Columbia University’s Teachers College.  

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Pei-Fen Chang: Effectiveness of the Occupation-Based Cultural Heritage Intervention

With the accelerating of an aging society, more and more people experience relocation in their late life. Dr. Pei-Fan Chang examined occupation-based cultural heritage intervention techniques for older adults who experienced recent relocation to see whether the occupational adaptation improves their quality of life. Pei-Fan Chang is an associate professor in the school of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman’s University. Her host institution in Taiwan is the department of occupational therapy and the Institute of behavioral science at Chang Gung University.  

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Valerie Holton: Collaborative Curiosity: Designing Community-Engaged Research

Dr. Valerie Holton taught a course on community-engaged research (CEnR) at National Taiwan University during her Fulbright year. Together, she and her students learned how to collaborate and generated new knowledge on building a healthier community. Outside of the classroom, Valerie was able to interact with local people in Taiwan through various community activities. There she experienced dynamic cultural exchanges and saw the potential of future collaboration. Dr. Holton is the executive editor of CUMU’s Metropolitan Universities journal (MUJ), a quarterly, peer-reviewed outlet for scholarship on cutting-edge issues in higher education. Valerie was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Social Work at National Taiwan University in 2018. She is currently an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and Institute of Community Health Care at National Yang-Ming University in Taiwan.

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Research & Reflections

fulbright taiwan online journal